Double Play
by Lydia2
Summary: The truth about the conversation at Jack's house when he is undercover in Shades of Grey comes out. No Slash


Daniel sat down in his office, pretending to work. There was something very fishy going on, and he was willing to bet General Hammond was right in the middle of it. Daniel knew Jack very well, and if he knew anything, one, Jack would never steal and two, Jack had the highest respect for the general—he would never yell at him like that, especially with an audience. So there was something going on and he needed to get to the bottom of it. He decided to wait a little while though. He didn't want anyone to realize he had suspicions, and Jack could potentially get in major trouble if anyone else knew he had suspicions. He refused to think of the danger to himself.

A day later, he pulled up in front of his friend's house. He took a deep breath to compose himself and then walked up the steps to the door. It opened almost immediately, without his ever raising a hand to knock. He had his suspicions that Jack had rigged some sensors to alert him since there was no visible doorbell either. Putting that thought out of his mind as well, he raised an eyebrow and waited to be invited in.

Jack responded with unwonted rudeness. "What do you want?"

Daniel stuttered but finally was permitted in, where he sank into his usual seat. "So, how are you feeling about all of this?" The quick verbal sparring resulted in the first personal thing comment from the ex-colonel.

"Quit your worrying. I'm fine."

Daniel looked him in the eye as he spoke, trying to get to the bottom of this. His diligence paid off in the end as he put his people-watching skills to work. Jack was only able to look him in the eye for a few seconds at a time as he made scathing comments. He also caught sight of the despair in Jack's eyes, possibly only visible because the man was letting him see it. It certainly hadn't been there when he was yelling at Hammond. He finally gathered his coat after the last verbal spear hit: "Apparently not much of a foundation there, huh?"

Daniel got into his car and drove away, not much more enlightened than before. He had caught the subtle hint though. He was not going to go visit Jack again until all this was over. He was just worried about how long it would take.

The announcement that Makepeace was being given command was a big letdown. He had hoped that everything would be resolved before such a thing came about, or that at least Sam would be given the team. He made a point of being rude and putting down Jack whenever possible though. He didn't trust this colonel any farther than he could throw him.

About a week later, he found out just how true his suspicions were as Jack exited the gate, followed by a ragtag band of rogue military. He had watched his friend go through the gate the day before, apparently to retire on Edora with Laira. Now he was returning and holding open the gate and no one was stopping him. They had in fact let him in even though he had no GDO.

The general's announcement that Jack had been working undercover came as a complete annoyance to him though, on Jack's behalf. Even though all of the black ops work he had done was classified, he had spoken in his sleep and in his cups enough that Daniel knew that such work was the complete antithesis of the man his friend wanted to be.

Unfortunately for Jack, that translated into completely inappropriate remarks to the already hurting man. Daniel winced internally at the expression on his friend's face but he did take back the words. After all, if he did, the others would realize that he had already known that Jack was not the villain he had been pretending to be and then everyone would be in trouble.

That evening, however, he pulled up in front of Jack's house again, bearing gifts of beer and pizza. Déjà vu struck as the door opened again to the colonel holding a beer. "Uh, hi. Can I come in?"

As if feeling the same, Jack stepped back with a shrug letting him in. Then he deliberately broke the gloomy mood. "The bugs are gone. I made sure myself. Look, I really am sorry for everything I said. But you already knew that. I could tell even before you left. So, shall we eat that lovely pizza and drink some beer—and root beer—and go over the details that I couldn't tell you before."

Daniel nodded with a sigh. "Sounds like a plan." He sat down where he had sat before and gratefully accepted the proffered plate and root beer. "I'll start, if you don't mind." He waited for the nod then continued. "I suspected the setup for real when you blew up in Hammond's face. I was sort of in shock when you stole that device and wasn't really thinking at the time even though I know you would never steal. Then when you were so rude to the general, well, I knew that you couldn't be for real, there was just no way. I just didn't know why. Then when I came over here, your eyes were just twitchy, I guess you could say. So I took your hint and then followed up by being as horrible as possible to Makepeace, and telling him…"

"I know what you told him, Daniel. I have—surveillance—in the oddest of places, you'll find, not that you heard that from me…I guessed that you were suspicious and was soooo grateful when you got the message and avoided me. Not that I liked it, but Maybourne arrived with about ten minutes of you leaving as I had thought he would. Then it was just a matter of letting him play into my hands. I hated all that stuff, but I had no real choice, for the world's sake, so I did my job and got it over as fast as I could. They'd better not make me do it again." He sighed and took a long swig of beer and a bite of pizza. "So, what say we watch a nice documentary and concentrate on satisfying our stomachs and taste buds rather that dwelling on all this crap?"

Daniel smiled in relief. "Actually, Jack, I hear there's a good game of hockey playing tonight…"

Jack smiled back and then got up abruptly to open the door and admit Sam and Teal'c. "Hey guys. We haven't killed each other—yet. Care to join us for some pizza and hockey?"

"Indeed."

"Definitely, sir."

"Ah ah. We're at my house and off duty, Carter. My name is Jack."

Sam rolled her eyes disrespectfully. They had this argument every time she came over. "And my name is Sam. Now that we have it all straight, I think the game should be starting, Jack."

He smirked back at her and went to grab the remote while the two newcomers grabbed the clean plates off the coffee table and took some pizza. He was rather relieved that the tension was gone already, without the razzing some people would have been inclined to give him before letting him back into their good graces. Then he winced as the dreaded question came.

"Uh, Jack? How did you know when we arrived? I didn't hear their footsteps or a knock or a doorbell."

Jack waited a few beats and then turned back around. "I suppose you feel I own you the answer to this at least since I didn't let you in on my undercover mission this past week, especially all that wasted work of yours?" There were three nods and hopeful looks. "I have a little, uh, bug, behind my ear, that alerts me to anyone arriving on my property. When I'm on-world, I wear it, and when I'm off, I leave it hooked up to a recorder just to keep track. I also have a variety of cameras so I know identities of those who come when I'm not here. I also have a set placed around the SGC that no one knows about. They are all very discretely placed and unrecognizable as such. So, how about that game?" He couldn't quite conceal the grin that spread on his face at the expressions of his friends.

Sam was the most disturbed. She had always suspected he was smarter than he pretended, but it was annoying to know that he had been faking it every time he begged her help with the computer. "You fake it, don't you? You deliberately make your computer crash!"

This time he blushed a bit but didn't deny it. "Yup. You spend waaay too much time working so give you a break, I give it basic problems and then when you come and fix it, I make you come get a snack or something. You can't say you haven't appreciated the time off, can you?"

She laughed a bit, echoed by Daniel, who realized that similar tactics had been used on him. The civilian then made another connection. "All that paper work you always have in your inboxes—that's another of your games, isn't it? At least half of that is just trash or junk or something, right?"

Jack pretended to pout. "Awww, you caught on! No fair! Yes, Daniel, you don't think I could get away with being 2IC of the base if I couldn't do my paperwork on time, do you? Now, if you have any other brave assertions to make about me, can they wait till intermissions?"

They all settled back down to watch the game. Jack still had some secrets, but that was what made dealing with him so fun—he was unpredictable. So the evening continued in interspersed laughter and contented silence that results from peace of mind and trust.


End file.
